The first national football team camp kicked off on Sunday evening in preparation for Egypt’s upcoming matches against Mauritania in the third and fourth rounds of the continental qualifiers for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The Egyptian national team will host Mauritania at the Cairo International Stadium on Friday, then fly to face Mauritania in Nouakchott on October 15.
Team manager, Ibrahim Hassan, revealed that the team will train over four days.
The press conference for the first Mauritania match will be on October 10, he said, with the match on the 11th, after which the trip to Mauritania will be on the 13th, and the press conference for the match at the opponent’s stadium on the 14th followed by the fourth round match on the 15th.
Hassan stressed the importance of these two matches in the national team’s journey, and noted that their opponent is not to be trifled with as it has developed significantly in recent years, as evidenced by their stellar performance in the last Africa Cup of Nations.
The Egyptian international players will join successively, he added, after playing the matches in this round of the European leagues in which they are active.
Salah set to join
He confirmed that Liverpool FC star Mohamed Salah will join the national team camp on Monday, with the players eagerly awaiting the gifts he is known to give out at the beginning of the camp, such as Liverpool FC shirts.
A source within the Egyptian national team also shot down rumor stating that Salah had refused to travel to Mauritania with his fellow national team players
Challenges await
The technical director of the Egyptian national team, Hossam Hassan, held a session with the team on Sunday at the beginning of camp in order to explain the challenges ahead, and the importance of the coming two matches against the Mauritanian national team.
He indicated that winning these two matches and collecting the six points means qualifying for the finals and ensuring the group leadership by a large percentage as well.
After the session, the first training for the Pharaohs began with the local players amidst great enthusiasm, especially for newcomers such as Zamalek stars Dunga and Awad.
The Egyptian national team currently tops the group with six points, after winning in the first round against the Cape Verde national team with a score of 3/0, and then winning against Botswana with four goals.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
